My name is Max
by PamisaChan
Summary: Chloe Price received a letter. A letter from someone she would have known, would have been her best friend, would have shared adventures with her. If that person actually existed in her life.


_"If you're reading this right now, it's because my plan worked. You do not know who I am. But I will introduce myself."_

Chloe read the letter not understanding a thing. The real Chloe, the one with the blue hair. The tough. one That one, outraged by the death of her father and for having a horrible stepfather. The girl who can walk, breathe and eat on her own. She rolled her eyes again to the blurred handwritten letters.

 _"My name is Maxine Caulfield. I would be your best friend. I would stop to talk to you for a long time, just sending a letter from time to time. As this one. No, far less elaborate than this one. But after a long time, after you're already moving on with your life, with new friends, a new lifestyle, I would return to Arcadia Bay, to see you again. We would be best friends again, after your best friend, who you loved more than anything, would be kidnapped . We would see the sunset together. I would tell you about my powers. Yes, I have powers. You would love them. But not before asking me for lots and lots of proofs. You would try to abuse my powers. You would get angry at me if I didn't do things your way. This is so much like you, isn't it... Chloe Price?"_

The blue haired girl's eyes widened while reading that. She was confused. Her heart felt heavy, and she could not understand why. She was not understanding what was going on. She took a drag on her cigarette and proceeded reading.

 _"You now must be smoking, right? It's what you do when you're alone in your room, on the second floor. I could be there with you. Your stepfather would go up to your room, complaining about the loud music. I could hide in your closet. Or I could stay by your side. You would try to say that the grass on the table was mine. And I would probably take the blame, just so you wouldn't get harmed. He would threaten to tell about my case to the principal of the place where I take photography classes, the Blackwell Academy. Where, by the way, he works as security guard."_

Chloe felt terrified about the information contained in the letter. They were all very accurate. The location of her room, the fact that she was smoking and her joint was over the table of her bedroom, the fact that her stepfather is a security guard in Blackwell Academy. She could not process what was happening. All those weirdly familiar descriptions. The tense. "Would", "Would go up", "Would try" "Would take the blame"... Stories so detailed and vivid, and that gave her deep down, obscurely, a feeling of déjà vu. Chloe decided to turn on the radio. She used to listen to music when she was strained. Before making any movement, however, she remembered what she had read on the letter about David going up to her room and complaining about the music. Chloe hesitated. Within seconds, she heard her stepfather's car entering in the garage. She changed her mind and simply laid on an old pillow and went back to reading.

 _"Anyway, let me tell you again about my power. I found it out because of you, by the way. But I'll explain it later. Who can guarantee that you will believe me now?_

 _Well, basically, I have the power to go back in time. Yes. You would ask me time after time to prove it. I wouldn't get mad. It's not everyday that someone says they can go back in time, isn't it? I could save your life many times with this power. I could prevent a young boy from shooting you, I could prevent you from being caught by a train, I could prevent you from getting shot by accident during a stupid game with guns, which, by the way, you love. And... hey! Return David's weapon, before he goes up to complain it's missing."_

Chloe was startled again. The indirect speech by Maxine was turned into something different. It was a request, or an order. The punk girl did not know whether to trust or not the words of the letter. But it was so surreal that she was afraid to be true. However, she took no action on that. She turned a little on the bed and kept reading.

 _"Chloe, you have no idea how many times I saved you. How many times I have seen you die in front of me. I saw you being hit by a train. I saw you being shot three times by different people. I saw you die more times than you could ever imagine. In ways you could never even think of. Everytime that happened, I went back in time. Actually, the first time I went back in time, was when you took a shot. From Nathan Prescott. For messing around with drugs."_

Chloe realized then that the tense had changed. Possibilities of things that could have happened between her and the mysterious girl, changed to things that, in fact, happened. At least, that's what the letter implied. "I saw", "I went back", " I saved". How did she know about Nathan Prescott? It could not be just a coincidence. Through the blue haired girl's body, a discharge of indescribable emotions was going on.

 _"You must be surprised by all the things I'm saying. Is that enough for you to trust me, Chloe? Will you believe that I have powers? Will you call me SuperMax? Look at the photography that came with this letter. Perhaps you've seen it already. But if you didn't, see it. You know who are the girls in that photo? Do you feel something like butterflies in your stomach when you look at that picture?"_

Chloe took the envelope that was lost in some corner of the bed. It was a white, common envelope. She realized that there was something there that she did not notice when she picked up the letter. She pulled the item out of the envelope. It was a glossy paper. A photograph. She picked it up.

There was two girls on the picture. One sitting beside a bed that looked like a hospital bed. The girl had dark and short brown hair. She was smiling in a visibly forced way. Her eyes looked sad. Beside her, lying in the bed, a girl full of gadgets in the face and neck. Looking carefully, Chloe realized that the girl was herself.

She began to shake. Some tears rolled down her rosy face, slightly blurring her black eyeliner. With blurred vision and tight heart, she laid her eyes over the letter once again.

 _"That's me, Chloe. Max. Do you remember this photo? Of course not. You did not take that picture, in fact, did you? You would have taken that picture. Would._

 _Do you remember your father's accident? You would complain a lot about your life because of it. You would even blame other people, including me, because of it. Until, after a long time seeing you suffer, I would go back in time. Back in your house, in your kitchen. On the day of the accident. And prevent your father to get into that car. And you, Chloe ... You would have an accident in his place, years later. Snap your spine. You would become paralyzed. Chloe... My heart would twitch every time I think about you. Each time I would see you in that damn wheelchair, with all those tubes and devices around you. You would beg for me not to pity you. Every night I would scream every night before going to bed, punching my pillows, and crying myself to sleep."_

A vivid picture of that situation ran through Chloe's mind for a split second as she stared at the picture. She still could not understand a thing, but felt that everything was oddly realistic.

 _"What if I said that this actually happened? And... it was my fault, Chloe. Mine!_

 _And I... I needed to do something. I couldn't just try to avoid that accident. I did try. I came back in time a million times to prevent somehow that something happened to you, Chloe. More than I could count. And in a failed attempt to save you once for all, I simply destroyed your life. And I couldn't forgive myself for that. Until I realized. As much as I tried, you'd still die, Chloe. The universe did not want you to live. You were born to die. Just for that._

 _And when I finally understood that, I found out what to do. I had no choice. Actually I had. But I couldn't take it. Was I strong? Was I stronger for having given up on everything just for you? Or was I weak? Weak to have given up everything ... because I couldn't stand to see your situation? Have I been too selfless? Or was I too selfish? I would never do something like that if it weren't for a good reason. I couldn't avoid Kate Marsh's death, that christian girl from Blackwell. But I did what I could. I froze the time for her. Unfortunately it was all in vain. No use anymore. I would never have the courage to do the same as her. To kill myself? If you remembered me, if you knew me, you would know that._

 _I froze time for her. But for you, Chloe... For you, I'd give up on time. And that's what I did."_

Chloe's teary eyes, at this point, had already wet the whole paper. Her cigarette was dropped somewhere on the ground, her plaid bed sheet was all rumpled and tousled, of her moving so much in the bed. She stopped one more time to read the last paragraph.

 _"Sometimes, a life must die for another to be born. I started writing. I gathered all the strength I had. By your side, in that bed, I began. I began to rewind. I rewinded, rewinded more than I ever had. My head started to hurt. My nose started to bleed. I started to feel every part of my body being forced in an absurd way, like something was pulling me. I was disappearing little by little, other parts of my body began to bleed, until my body was covered in bright red. And then I went back. I went back again to the day of the accident. I watched you with my last breath. You did not see me there. I was no longer there. I saw you hugging William for the last time. After that I never I saw anything, anymore. I ceased to exist. So that you could live. You do not know me anymore. But I gave up everything. For you._

 _I love you, Chloe Price."_

Several images flashed before Chloe's eyes. A heavy heart and a terrible nostalgic feel troubled her. She went downstairs, went into the kitchen. She looked at the counter, where she had been with her father for the last time. On top of it, there was an old camera. And a picture inside it. She took the black picture from inside the polaroid and shook it. When the image has become clear, tears fell from Chloe's eyes.

In the picture there was herself, younger, her father, and a girl with brown hair and ponytail. Behind the photo, it was written "Max, Chloe and William, 2008".


End file.
